Dreams And Instincts
by chimney leaf
Summary: Dreams are strange things. What we might believe are nightmares are in fact our deepest fantasies and wishes. Videl Satan will learn this like any other, whether she likes it or not. Gh/Vi
1. Infatuation

If a person of half decent general knowledge were spying on Videl Satan right now, they would know for certain that she was dreaming. But of course they could have no clue as to what she could actually be dreaming about.

Gohan certainly didn't have a clue. He shifted his gaze like a cat might when it heard an unfamiliar noise. Spying was wrong. And if he was caught crouching on Mr Satan's daughter's open window ledge, he might possibly go to prison. For a _very_ long time. Sometimes they made exceptions, even for seventeen year olds.

They'd call him a pervert and throw him to the lions. But he wasn't a pervert; he was just _infatuated_ with her. He didn't just have a schoolboy crush on Videl Satan; he was madly in love with her. He fell asleep thinking about her, dreamt about her all through the night and then woke up with a clear image of her smiling face. Or scowling face. Whichever one he had seen the most of the day before, usually the latter of course.

She moaned out loud, a sound that was so delightful to his ears that he almost crept onto the thick carpet of her room. He blushed a deep crimson and wondered whether she dreamed of him the way that he dreamed of her.

Summer was only just coming into season but it was already boiling hot in this region of the world, and that explained the open window. This was only the third time that he had felt the urge, the _instinct, _to come here at night. The first two times his view had been obscured by curtains and he had spent barely five minutes here.

This time however, his view was unobstructed and the covers were thrown off her body, only covering her from the knees down. He'd barely moved for an hour. He knew he shouldn't be here, it wasn't right. If she ever found out…

Her hair was free of its clasps and flowed freely in a fashion that he had never seen on her before. All she wore on her body were her white cotton undergarments and a very small, very tight pink tank top that clung to her upper body like a second skin. It rode up her midriff to a point just below her breasts, exposing her bare stomach. Gohan had never seen her in pink before either, he wondered if she thought it too girly to be seen in public while wearing it. Absentmindedly he mused to himself that it suited her quite well.

He grinned like a dazed idiot that only a genius such as him could pull off.

In a sense, Videl's dream did involve Gohan, or at least it involved Saiyaman, whose identity still remained a secret to all. And it was far from erotic.

Despite this, she still didn't like the amount of her skin that was on show. She was actually watching herself from without her body, as if she was watching herself on the six o'clock news like she ended up doing at least once a week.

Erasa and a couple of the other girls had taken her out shopping a couple of months ago, where they had forced all kinds of horrendous items of clothing upon her body. Before she had become a teenager she had loved skirts, back in the day when they went past her knees and almost always to her ankles.

But she had tried on short skirts with these girls on this trip, albeit in the safety of a large changing room where they had all stood. But these were skirts that only ever said hello to her knees for a brief second, for they all ended around her mid thigh. They all said that she looked incredible, and secretly she had agreed. One of them even said that Gohan would probably jump on her if he saw her in one of those. Dreamily she had agreed, before clasping a hand over her mouth in shock.

But she could never actually wear one of these things in public. What would people _think_?What would people _say_?

And it was precisely one of these skirts that her dream self was wearing right now, along with a top that she knew rested in the bottom drawer of her dresser that also left little to the imagination. Plus, her hair was different; it remained long, but was loose, free from her pigtails. Occasionally she wore a ponytail, but hadn't left it unbound outside the comfort of her own home for a good few years; it just wasn't practical.

What worried her even more than her attire however, was the fact that she was fighting. Fighting and _losing_. Videl Satan did not _lose_.

The disembodied Videl shouted at her dream counterpart to get herself in order. This generic goon shouldn't be causing any problems at all. But he was, and that was because she was fighting like a girl. She had even tried slapping her assailant at one point. She was fighting as though she was someone that needed help, needed to be saved.

There was a decent crowd gathered, a mix of police and citizens, all looking on as gormlessly as each other. Videl, the one that wasn't fighting, tried to move, but felt that she was rooted to the spot, or rather she was 'on-rails', like those light gun games that you could play in arcades.

She shouted as a punch from the male was about to connect, but she needn't have bothered, as her saviour had arrived.

Due to her anger, she didn't even see how he dealt with the criminal. But that didn't matter. Right now the one who her anger was directed at was this idiot in green stood right here.

"Go away!!" Both of her selves screamed in unison. Sometimes she just hated him. _Sometimes_.

"But I came to save you." He replied, the tone ever so slightly nervous and even more familiar than it usually was.

The Videl wearing the skirt immediately went on the offensive, as she quite often did to him when she was having a particularly bad day, or was in an especially bad mood with the masked hero. This time she was fighting to the other Videl's satisfaction, who now realised that she hadn't fought all out because she didn't want anyone to see up her skirt.

But this was Saiyaman, whose help she understood was undeniably helpful, but hateful all the same. If she could beat him it wouldn't matter if some onlooker caught a glimpse of her panties. Now she was in her own body, and felt like she had a little more control over her body.

She'd never give up, not in a million years, but she knew she was losing. He was dancing around her attacks with that damned smirk plastered over the lower part of his face, the bit that she could see. He was without cape, and had a scarf over his head that billowed a few feet out behind him and those dark sunglasses.

For a fleeting moment she thought that he looked pretty cool when the sunlight gleamed off of the glasses. Plus he was undeniably handsome; he was tall and strong. With a yell she urged these weak thoughts from her mind and focused her attacks. But as she did so, she was caught.

One of his large hands, that she had never realised were quite so big easily spanned her lower back and pulled her close to his body, and her arms were trapped between their two torsos.

Her heartbeat rose quickly, and it wasn't because of any physical exertion.

The pressure on her back was firm but far from painful, in fact she welcomed it and his little finger had found its way slightly beneath the fabric of her top. She could have sworn that he had been wearing those white gloves but the skin contact was obvious and made her breathing heavier.

"This is stupid." He spoke smoothly as he brushed the fingertips of his free hand through her hair. She thought about trying to will herself awake and out of this dream, because even when in her body she knew that this was just that – a fantasy.

But she soon realised that that was far from what she wanted.

His free hand took one of her own and brought it up to his lips, where he kissed it softly. Her breast was heaving and her entire body tingled like it had never done before.

"You know the saying, make love not war." As he spoke those last four words she knew that – dream or not – whoever Saiyaman was, he didn't just want to stop the arguing and become allies and friends, he actually wanted to make love to her.

He had loosened his grip on her and she was able to bring her right hand up to his face. Her dainty little fingers found the edge of the scarf and pushed backwards, moving through the soft, dark hair beneath. The cloth fell to the floor and she knew a matching pair of dark eyes awaited her own beneath the glasses.

As she deftly removed the final barrier to his identity she realised that they were no longer in a crowded street in Satan City, but back in her own bedroom, an exact replica of the one that the real Videl Satan slept in right now, watched by the boy that she was dreaming about.

Suddenly she was floating again, simply a viewer to this. She was now watching herself kissing Gohan feverishly, she could hear every moan, gasp and smack of lips. She then had a premonition. She was about to say something stupid.

"Hey you! – I mean me!" She shouted it, but she knew no one would hear her. She waved her arms about and screamed not to say anything.

"I want to feel you deep inside me." She moaned. The other Videl screamed.

The real Videl Satan woke just before they had descended into a mass of sweaty bodies and tangled limbs, with a very (in)decent recollection of what had occurred during her dream that had started out so innocently.


	2. Hatred

The problem with Gohan's infatuation with Videl Satan was that he also felt an obligation towards her and her family. Namely an obligation of hatred towards her father, although this was a feeling he struggled to uphold on occasion, it just wasn't his nature after all. The memory of their first meeting was still fresh in his mind, although he didn't know quite who she was at the time.

It was still fairly near to the start of the calendar year, but it was unseasonably warm, and a young demi-saiyan strolled casually into a bank in Satan City, the nearest large dwelling near to his mountain home, ready to pay some cheques in for his mother. He didn't really understand why he had to do it; this financial stuff really confused him. He might have been a genius but he just couldn't grasp the concept. Maybe it was at the prospect of having to be an adult and do this sort of thing for himself that put him off.

He walked up to the queue, and was distracted by what was before him. Lately he had found himself being more and more sidetracked by women. Powerful hormones kicked in and his body began to feel a little odd.

He looked her up and down, the girl having no clue that she was being stared at. Her hair was pitch black, divided up into two pigtails, each slung over the front of her shoulders. They were a tad childish, but he could easily imagine what her hair might be like flowing around her shoulders.

Her white t-shirt wasn't tight but it only just went past the waistline of her jeans. He continued down her back, admiring her slim waist and trim figure. The jeans clung to her legs and defined her shapely hips. But she was tiny, and he knew that he would be able to enfold her in his arms easily enough. He blushed at the thought…if his mother knew what sort of thoughts he was having, he'd be doing nothing but homework for a month.

He wondered what she might do if he moved close to her, grasped her hips and removed the two of them swiftly from this place and prying eyes. He quickly took a hold of himself and noticed that there were over a dozen people in this place, and it would hardly be appropriate for him to steal away a girl whose face he had never seen.

Damn hormones were pissing him off. He wasn't like this two years ago, so why now? He heard the barely audible slide of the door as someone else entered. A sound that Gohan surmised was a gunshot rang through the air, and the screams of his fellow patrons at the bank followed it. Everyone present except himself, the girl and the three gunmen dived to the floor in panic.

He was now facing the direction that the sound came from and saw the three of them, faces obscured by ski masks. He would have to deal with this, but he couldn't exactly transform right now in front of all of these people. It as a Catch 22 situation; if he transformed in order to hide his identity, lots of people would see him doing it, but if he didn't, they'd all report a boy matching his description doing extraordinary things. Casually he thought to himself that he shouldn't worry, it wasn't like he went to school in this town or anything.

However, he knew he would still have to do this as normally as possible. One of them began striding forward and he turned in the direction that he was heading in, right at the girl. He saw her face now. She was beautiful, with the most incredible eyes that he had ever seen.

He noticed that she wasn't scared, she was actually smiling. Was she in on this? The man raised his gun to her head as she approached. "Why aren't you on the floor girl?"

Her moves were lightning quick, and the poor criminal didn't even see her deftly remove the gun from his grasp as he came into range. She tossed it aside, grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm sharply. He howled in pain as his arm broke and she smacked him on the chin with the heel of her hand to shut him up. She was merciless.

"Um…Miss?" He tried to speak to her, to either suggest that she not be quite so harsh, or to at least leave this to the police when they arrived. However, she seemed completely focused on the two remaining criminals.

His two associates ran towards him in aid, so Gohan grabbed the unconscious man by the scruff of the neck as she released her grip on him, and tossed him at the onrushing pair.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Now she noticed his presence, and she turned to him in anger, ignoring the fact that he had _thrown_ a two hundred pound man across the room. He physically recoiled from her. She was frightening.

"What? I just helped you out." He meekly replied.

"I don't want or need your help." She stalked over to him and poked him sharply in the chest. "So back off and get down before you get hurt!" He nodded in agreement quickly so that she would hopefully shut up. Her incessant shouting hurt his ears.

But he was intending to keep an eye on her and step in if things got out of hand. He couldn't hear any police sirens yet, even in the far distance, and he didn't know whom this girl was or why she was standing up to these goons. She hardly looked a capable fighter at first glance. But then again neither did Krillin or his mother, and they both certainly packed quite a punch.

One of the men charged at her while the other trained his gun on Gohan. He shouted for him to get down, but the male simply shook his head in a blatant, yet strangely absent refusal. His focus was on far more important things as his eyes concentrated on the female who had enraptured him.

The gunman advanced, but when he came in close enough Gohan swatted the gun away into a nearby wall, breaking a few of the man's fingers in the process. The man went to his knees, clutching at his sore fingers, as Gohan mumbled a quick apology. He really didn't like to hurt people.

Gohan watched the girl. She was smiling as she was being attacked, seemingly enjoying the fact, even though all she was doing was easily blocking every attack. However, a blow was coming in from a different direction and Gohan doubted that she would be quick enough to parry it. He reached out and grasped the forearm about ten inches from her body.

"I told you to stay out of this! And stop staring at me!" She ordered.

"But he was about to hit you." Gohan responded, surprised at her ungratefulness. He averted his eyes to the floor. Maybe his gaze had lingered on her inappropriately for a second too long.

"I had it covered easily. See!" She motioned with one of her arms to the other, where it was quite obviously placed in the direction the hit was intended. Maybe she was a little quicker than he thought. She was very small after all.

"I was lulling the guy into a false sense of security moron! Y'know, letting him think he could win." The captured male looked between the arguing pair a little confused. He was being ignored right now so he tried to struggle free. "Plus your staring is distracting me!"

He released the man's arm, who rubbed it, shocked at how hard that boy's grip had been. The other conscious criminal had by now crawled over to his chum who had been unceremoniously knocked out by the girl a few moments before. Gohan was rather surprised; he hadn't expected these sorts to stick together when the going got tough.

"I'm tired of this now." The black haired girl spoke as she knocked the remaining bank robber out cold with a fist.

_Now _the cops had decided to show up, as the bank's patrons stood and cheered their saviours.

Gohan didn't particularly want to be stuck here all day answering the police's questions as a witness, and he supposed that the bank wouldn't be doing much more business on this day, so he turned and strolled casually from the building.

"Wait!" She cried, a little shocked at his impudence. Not many turned so easily from the daughter of Mr Satan.

"Yes?" He turned to face her. She had the prettiest face that he had seen and a wave of shyness overtook him.

"The police will want to ask you a few questions."

"I know, that's why I'm leaving." He mumbled.

"You aren't supposed to do that." She scolded him. "Are you a criminal yourself or something?"

He gave her an honest smile. "No, just busy. I'll leave this to you Miss...?"

"Videl...My name's Videl."

Gohan began walking away. "You fight pretty well Videl." She beamed at his appraisal of her skills, even though he was a stranger. "...For a girl."

She left the bank that day seething in anger at that final comment.

From that meeting, the first instinct that he felt towards her was lust. It would be some weeks before he would discover the second, conflicting emotion.


	3. Gentle

When Gohan had started school it turned out that he was just old enough to be grouped in with the year that would be entering their penultimate year of high school education. Just two years to endure before he could go off to college.

At that same time Videl Satan was entering that same grade.

Gohan had heard that the daughter of Mr Satan attended their school, but he had no clue if he had seen her or not since he didn't have a clue what she looked like. Nor did he know her first name.

All he could discover from his classmates in his first two days was that she was in the same year as him and that she was rather good looking. The latter was a surprise, he hadn't been expecting much after what he could remember of the man himself.

Ever since his father had died he had been unable to stand that man. If he appeared on television or even if only the briefest mention of his name was made, he would switch the set off straight away. He was simply a reminder of a past that he would rather forget.

That was one of the excuses that he gave to his friends and family, but secretly he felt an intense loathing of the man. Gohan didn't want any credit, but he wondered why that man should take it all, all the while bad mouthing Goku.

The hatred that he felt was on behalf of his father, even though he knew that he would never approve of such feelings and only tell Gohan that such things were irrational. Mr Satan was just a little misguided, he might say.

So when Gohan found out about how close he would be to the girl, he saw an opportunity. He would be able to tear their family apart just as his own had been.

Although to do so he would have to be unlike anything he had ever been before and forsake all of his natural goodness. He would have to be ruthless and merciless. On the surface he would be what the people thought he was, that would be easy enough. But underneath he would be constantly searching for any opportunity.

And on the third day that opportunity became clear.

Gohan was sat in the study hall, working on his chemistry alone when she walked in. Behind her were two fair-haired people, one a boy, one a girl. He had seen them both on the first day, both of them being in many of the same classes as himself.

Instinctively he had looked up and had recognised her immediately. How could he forget her? She caught his gaze so he quickly peered down at his work. How often had he thought of those eyes in recent weeks?

The trio walked right past him but he felt her eyes on him all the time. They sat about twenty feet away from him, off to his left. He spied a sly glance at her out of the corner of his vision. She was still looking at him. She looked like she wanted to kill him.

"What are you looking at?" Erasa spoke to her friend. The blonde followed the gaze and realised that it lingered on the guy that she had seen when they had walked in. "He's cute, isn't he? He's new in our class."

"That's the guy."

"What guy?" Erasa asked, perplexed.

"The one that I told you about. The one from the bank." Now Erasa knew exactly whom she was talking about. Videl still hadn't stopped talking about him, even this many weeks later.

Videl suddenly got up and confidently strode over to him, Erasa scrambling to her feet to follow, never wishing to miss an opportunity for gossip.

"It's you!" She barked as she came within a few feet of him.

He turned slowly to face her. His stomach felt strange. It had never felt quite like this before. As if there was something dancing around in there at the pit of his gut. Her eyes, he was drawn to them and he couldn't take his own off her. However, Gohan tried to compose himself quickly.

He knew exactly what she meant, but he wanted to keep a low profile. Maybe if he just acted as though he didn't recognise her, she might think he wasn't who she thought he was. "What do you mean? Nice to meet you, whoever you are." He reached a hand out in front of his body.

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly who I am!"

Her loud voice wasn't something Gohan welcomed. "I'm sorry, but you must have me confused with someone else. Maybe I have one of those faces."

She slammed her palm down on the desk, annoyed at his insolence. How dare he act like this towards Videl Satan? She glared at him, trying to break him, but he just stared back with a sickeningly innocent grin on his face.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing buddy, but I'm going to get you to admit to who you are. You're the guy I met at the bank, no doubt about it."

"Gosh, I haven't been to a bank for a long time."

Videl almost cried out in anguish. "All right…at least tell me your name."

"Gohan." He replied quickly, it wasn't as though she wouldn't be able to find out easily enough.

She looked at him in disbelief. "What kind of a name is Gohan? Tell me your real name."

His face fell a little. She was one to talk…what kind of a name was Videl? He prevented himself from voicing his thoughts however, as that would almost certainly blow his cover.

"I'm serious, that's my name. Go and check a register if you don't believe me." The saccharine smile returned.

"Fine." She huffed as she turned on her heel and left him to his chemistry.

Later on that day, Gohan was putting a few books back into his locker, all alone in the long corridor of the third floor. It wasn't long before he was no longer alone though. The one girl that he was trying to avoid, who had seen him do things he really shouldn't have been able to do, was just about to confront him once again.

"Gohan." She declared her presence. The boy, meanwhile, decided to ignore her for a moment, he had to have some fun after all, she seemed so uptight; it would be so easy to wind her up.

"You!" She cried. "Turn around!"

He turned slowly, and plastered a look of mock surprise on his face. "Oh, hi. I didn't hear you I'm afraid."

"I was stood _right_ _behind_ you." She spoke, grinding her teeth. Angered at his antics, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Gohan smiled, unable not to do so. Her forcefulness was almost…endearing.

"Violence is never the answer miss."

"This is the third encounter we've had, and on each occasion, you've managed to anger and annoy me beyond belief."

"I count two encounters, but…"

"Aargh! I could get to really dislike you, you know? If you don't admit that we met at the bank, I'm going to have to beat it out of you."

He looked down, a smirk now adorning his face. "Can that be done…by someone like you?" He spoke casually, almost nonchalant.

Videl spluttered. "Someone…like…me? Are you serious? I think I'm actually going to kill you, right here."

"Can that be-"

"Don't you even dare." Her tone had become extremely serious now, and Gohan realised that he had realised that he had really got on her nerves.

Slowly he moved her hands away from his neck. Her cheeks were red with what he supposed was anger.

"I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. May I ask your name?"

Videl weighed up her options. The direct route wasn't working…she knew it was him, and she knew that he knew that she knew. However, no matter how hard she pressed the matter, he would just keep denying it. Maybe a softer approach would work, perhaps humouring him would cause to eventually relent...and then she would be able to discover all his secrets, like just how strong he was.

"My name is Videl." Gohan smiled, this much he knew. "Videl Satan." Gohan was struck dumb, this part he didn't know.

That evening, Gohan was messing around on one of the many games consoles Bulma had left in the apartment in Satan City that she had lent him. He couldn't get that girl out of his head. She was Mr Satan's daughter.

Why did _she_ have to be _his_ daughter? It all made sense now, the strength, the pushiness that probably came with being a celebrity's daughter.

Over the next two months, Gohan managed to keep a low profile, no thanks to Videl Satan though, who deemed it necessary to pester him continually. Every time she tried to speak to him though, he would simply give her one-word answers, or just walk away, pretending that he hadn't heard her.

Currently he was sat in a classroom, looking over last night's homework, checking for any mistakes. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Videl enter the room, along with the two people he saw her around school with most.

Erasa seemed like a nice girl, he'd helped her out with homework a few times, something he seemed to have a reputation for. Once it had got around that he had perfect test scores, it hadn't taken long for people to start queuing up with assignments. Sharpener seemed OK too, a bit of a knucklehead, but perfectly harmless. Gohan had even had a few decent conversations with the guy.

The fact they also sat on the same row helped a little. Videl sat herself down two seats down from him, only Erasa in between the two. As usual, she was glaring at him.

"Good morning Gohan." She spoke caustically. She had tried the softly-softly approach over the past two months and had come to the conclusion that it wasn't working either. Time to shake things up a bit.

"Oh...Hi. Videl, wasn't it? We haven't spoken in a while, have we?"

"That's because you walk away from me every time I try to strike up a conversation." She hardly seemed pleased to see him, but he noticed the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. He supposed his actions over the last two months gave her something to do. "Erasa, will you swap seats with me for a moment?"

"Um, sure. Do you want to ask him out or something?" The question was whispered, so that Gohan couldn't hear. It went unanswered, but wouldn't be forgotten.

Gohan watched her as she rose and took her new seat beside him. He looked Videl in the eye, transfixed by the brightness in her gaze. He had to admit, her eyes were something he looked forward to seeing every day. He'd never seen anything quite like them.

Videl actually felt something fairly similar. His eyes were different, totally unique. They had a depth she found difficult to fathom.

"I'm tired of this Gohan. We both know you're the guy who was at the bank." Her voice was low, and she had bent forward so that only the two of them were in on this conversation. Even Erasa's rubbernecking wouldn't allow her to hear this.

"I told you, I have such a normal face that you must be confusing me with someone else."

"Look…bear in mind that what I have to say isn't easy. You don't have a normal face." Videl paused for a moment. "Whether you know this or not, you are very handsome, and I wouldn't forgot, OK?" The two of them blushed, Gohan at the compliment, Videl at the fact that she had just admitted that a boy was handsome to _that very same boy_. Videl coughed, trying to regain her composure. "Besides, your voice is the same, idiot! Come to think of it, you sound a heck of a lot like Saiyaman too..."

Gohan sighed. "Fine. You got me, at least on the first part." He decided to relent, as amusing as it had been, he couldn't have kept it up forever. There was also a large part of him that wanted to maybe…get to know her. "I'm not Saiyaman though, I promise. I mean, that guy can fly!" Gohan had been acting under his alter ego for almost as long as he had been at the school…one thing it did grant him was time with Videl.

She left the Saiyaman thing alone for now, although her suspicions over that were hardly allayed by his comments. "You're stronger than me." That wasn't a statement that he was expecting to hear.

"Ha, of course not, you're Mr Satan's daughter!" He replied nervously. "How could anyone but him be stronger than you?" His voice was surprisingly lacking in sarcasm.

"Don't play dumb, I find it insulting. I might be full of pride but I'd like to think that I'm not bigheaded and I'm certainly not stupid. I can remember every movement that you made; you were quick, controlled and powerful. I've never seen anyone move like you did. Just thinking about it gives me the shivers."

"I'm sure that your father moves way better than I do." He kept his voice down, hoping that no one in the vicinity could overhear their conversation. "I was just lucky, all I did was stop that guy from hitting you, anyone could have done it."

"I haven't seen my father fight or even train properly since I was twelve, that was five years ago now." She didn't say any more and it was up to Gohan to try to figure out whether she thought he had scaled incredible new heights in that time, or whether she knew the truth, that he was a lazy fool.

"You've got it wrong Videl. I'm just an average guy, maybe even a bit of a weakling."

Her face took a look of fury. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"No."

"Are you calling me a fool?"

Gohan laughed genuinely. "You said it, not me." He could barely contain his good humour as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, I could stand up right now, and say anything about you, and every single one of these people would believe every word that came out of my mouth. Understand?"

"I'm just saying that I'm not what you think I am. I don't know how you can think so much of me after seeing so little."

She stood up slowly and spoke nonchalantly. "Fine." She turned to leave but span quickly and launched a vicious punch directly at the boy's nose. She was quick, but in reality he had all the time in the world to avoid her fist.

He knocked his pencil on the floor and reached down to grab it as it fell. Her fist missed his head by mere inches. He wondered if she'd buy his attempt to make it appear as luck, as all of the other on-lookers did. Gohan wasn't so fortunate though.

"Man, you're one smooth customer. You're here trying to act like a nerd, but I see straight through you."

"Actually, I am really a bit of a nerd."

She pulled her fist back and tried another one.

This time, Gohan simply grabbed her hand as it came towards his nose; all the while keeping his eyes trained on his chemistry notes. He considered just letting her punch him, but she'd only probably end up hurting her hand or something.

Without looking up he spoke. "I don't have time for this nonsense." She tried to pull her fist back but his grip was too strong. "I'm serious, I didn't come to school for this. I'm here to learn."

Videl laughed out loud. "I knew it! You're ridiculously strong." Luckily the room was almost empty, but those present sat with their jaws gaping. They couldn't hear much of what was going on but it seemed as though Videl Satan was challenging this new kid to a fight.

He let go of her small hand but she wasn't giving up so easily. In one swift motion she swept his books onto the floor. Gohan's shock at her petty action was what prevented him from stopping her doing it.

He stood quickly, his chair screeching loudly on the floor. "My books…?"

Videl took a step back from him. "Ooh, the big boy is getting angry now." She whispered with a smirk.


	4. Shock

She backed away from him a little, considering the space open to her. Now that he was towering over her quite menacingly she realised that he was rather tall and rather broad shouldered. She become conscious that he wasn't really _that_ big physically, it was more of a presence that he had. He tried to hide underneath baggy clothes, but after her years of training and fighting she could tell when someone was of a powerful build. The only way forward if this turned ugly would be straight through him.

She become conscious that he wasn't really _that_ big physically, it was more of a presence that he had.

Now that she knew that he was considerably stronger than her she lost a bit of her prior confidence. She hadn't expected him to get this pissed. Non-criminals generally didn't get pissed at Videl Satan. Of course, she didn't even know him, she was basing all of her knowledge off one brief encounter that now, when she looked at it did not necessarily make him a good person.

He could be a psycho; maybe that was why he was so tough. She'd read the Battle Royale novel, and the manga; maybe he was just like that guy Kiriyama.

But she still had that strange feeling in her stomach, the one she had felt when she thought about him, as she lay awake at night. The thought that he could reach over and kiss her before she even knew what was going on was invigorating, yet she knew at the same time that it was quite strange.

"Why are you doing this?" He demanded sternly, but if he was feeling any anger he wasn't showing any of it.

Her smile only grew wider. "You know, my father will only let me ever go out with someone that's stronger than he is. Do you realise just how low that leaves my prospects of marriage?" Videl was surprised at her choice of words, which almost sounded as though she was asking him out, like Erasa had pondered.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but if you act like this all of the time you're doing a good job of keeping them down yourself." Gohan shocked himself with his words, but in the heat of moment he tended to do odd things.

Her smile turned to a scowl and she attacked him once again. She'd only said that about her father to get a rise out of him, of some sort, but it had backfired.

As the students heard the commotion, a great number made their way in to join the others watching the action unfold.

As she attacked, Gohan tried to look as hopeless as possible now that there seemed to be an ample crowd.

He saw a chance to end the incident and as she was about to go on a major offensive move, he sprang forward and grabbed both of her wrists. He slammed her against the desk, albeit fairly lightly, and she cried out in pain, more for effect than anything, she barely felt a thing. She could practically _feel _him holding back, and it infuriated her, but at the same time intrigued her as to how strong he really was.

Her arms were pinned behind her back, and it was causing her chest to stick out against his own. Gohan looked down at the closeness of their bodies and felt a sudden wave of heat pass over his entire body. Thoughts of her supple body and soft skin shot through his mind and he knew that he would have to let go before he had real cause for embarrassment.

However, before he could warn her off and release her from his grasp he heard the last thing that he wanted to hear. "Detention!" Screeched the teacher.

-

After school that day, the pair shuffled from opposite ends of the corridor leading to the room where they would be serving their punishment.

Luckily for Gohan, having the apartment in the city meant that his mother would never have to find out about his little indiscretion. As long as his nightly phone call was made, all would be well.

"I hear that the pair of you have been two very naughty children." The teacher that would be administering detention spoke. She had heard a vivid description of the situation that they had been caught in, and the young teacher spoke with a broad smile. The naïve Gohan of course took her literally and took her words at face value.

The slightly more street smart Videl however knew exactly what was being insinuated. "No way miss! I was simply trying to ascertain my opponents strength." It was sort of the truth.

Gohan looked at anything but her, because every time he did all he could think of was the feel of her breasts pressed firmly against his body. The teacher let them into the room where they would be serving their punishment and the dark haired girl crossed his eye line. He wondered what her legs were like, or the smoothness of her stomach, or how her hair felt or smelled.

He blushed a deep crimson and hoped that they wouldn't have to spend the hour in close confinement.

The pair noticed that the woman was heading for another door that was in the corner of the room. Gohan had no idea what would be in a room like that, but Videl knew all too well. A storeroom. A _tiny_ storeroom.

"I'll be back in an hour. The principal wants this place sparkling, but nothing can be thrown away. Some equipment to aid you has been left by the janitor. Have fun."

Videl and Gohan looked at the room, or rather cupboard, with disbelieving eyes. Gohan motioned for her to go in first and the dust kicked up by their feet caused her to erupt in a fit of coughing. She turned around to protest, but the teacher was long gone.

Videl stepped further inside over the clutter and turned slowly around three hundred and sixty degrees. An hour was a rather hopeful expectation for this bombsite. An hour that she would have to spend in a cramped broom cupboard of a room, alone with Gohan.

The thought got her heart beating a little bit faster, a rare occurrence for her. Boys were irritating and shallow, but he seemed different, despite their limited interaction so far. She peered at him out of the corner of her eye.

He was devilishly handsome with his dark eyes and hair, but he didn't seem to know it, as evidenced by his words earlier in the day. He was tall but not too lanky and she knew that he hid a well-toned frame underneath.

But she liked him because he seemed so innocent and naïve, but sometimes, such as when she had met him at the bank, he had come over as being intuitive, smart and quick thinking. She couldn't believe she was actually considering him as a likeable person, and thinking about the positives of his personality when they had barely even interacted. She had always thought of herself as a very good judge of character though.

The room had shelving running down two walls, holding all manner of old notebooks, confiscated items and biological specimens. "Um...maybe we should take half each?" Gohan suggested in a subdued voice. His actions earlier had been uncharacteristic to say the least and now he was nervous as to how she would choose to act around him.

There didn't seem much difference between the two sides so the girl got to work on the one closest to her, the boy doing much the same a couple of seconds later. She didn't know if she should say anything, he might be angry with her, it was kind of her fault that he had been landed here in detention in the first place. Although if he had just owned up to his identity earlier, things would have been fine. Normally she wouldn't give a damn, but this time...this time things just felt different. Her normal way of acting didn't feel right around him.

Gohan turned around for a sneaky peek at her while she was concentrating on something else. She was reaching up to one of the higher shelves, on her tiptoes, stretching as high as possible. He froze as he realised that he was getting another free show.

Her jeans weren't exactly loose fitting and he received an unadulterated view of her rear end and the curve of her hips. Her shirt was riding high, and he was given a view of her slime waist form the back, which reminded him of their first encounter in the bank. Upon regaining his senses he whipped his head around to stare the preserved frog in the eye. This was going to be the longest hour of his entire life.


	5. Pride

Gohan had practically finished with his half of the cramped cupboard, and was just about to turn around and ask whether she needed or wanted any help from him. All he had been doing for the last ten minutes was moving some junk around into neater positions on their shelves, trying desperately hard not to stare at her as she worked.

He couldn't help but admire her, she was really going all out, just to complete this enforced punishment.

As he turned he noticed that she was having trouble with the top-most shelf. In truth it had been fairly high even for him and he probably had an extra ten inches at least in height over her. She looked so delicate when he noticed this. But he knew that she wasn't.

He watched her closely as she stretched to her limits until realising that she was nowhere near. And she was so close, there was only one crusty old file hiding up there left to be sorted. Next she tried jumping, but even when she crouched down as low as she could, and sprang up to a considerable height, she was still nowhere nearer than she had been all afternoon.

Nor when she made a makeshift pile of crap on the floor, or tried clambering onto the lower shelves to gain a higher foothold. All the while Gohan simply stood there smiling to himself, wondering whether he should offer her his services.

In the end he couldn't help but laugh, it was becoming far too difficult to keep it all bottled up inside. She span around in a flash to face him, looking rather angry. Her face was flushed due to the effort that she had exerted over the last few minutes.

"Something to say?" She growled.

"I could help if you want." He spoke quietly, trying not to provoke her into doing anything rash. He already knew how high her levels of pride ran, and that was simply from their very first meeting.

"I'm fine, thank you very much!" She scolded him quickly. She didn't want his help; all that would manage would be that she would lose face in front of him. And she wouldn't let that happen in front of anyone.

"You know how easy it would be for me to reach right up there and grab that file. Nobody would ever have to know about it, it could be our little secret."

"I'd know about it, so don't you dare even consider doing that you big idiot."

He couldn't help but smile even wider. Her anger scared him half to death, but there was something about it that just thrilled him. He mockingly stretched his right hand out towards the offending item, doing it excruciatingly slowly.

She almost screamed and grabbed his arm quickly at the elbow. He was mere inches from the shelf so she yanked down as hard as she could. She was surprised that his arm didn't budge, until she realised that the whole reason that the pair of them were there resulted from the little altercation that they had shared earlier when she accused him of being stronger than her. Funny how the mind forgets things sometimes.

He expected her to be staring daggers at him, but her expression was surprisingly soft. She looked painfully vulnerable and he understood straight away. Her pride was one of the few important things in her life, and he wondered just how hard it had been to come to the realisation that he outmatched her in physical ability.

He was struck dumb by her change in expression and let his arm fall limply at his side, before smiling. "I was just kidding you know, I'd never really do that. But asking for or accepting help isn't anything to be ashamed of Videl, it's a natural human process. And I'm sure even you aren't so cold that you couldn't be called human, hmm?"

She turned around and looked up at her enemy on the shelf, folding her arms across her chest. "I'll pretend that I didn't hear that. I have far more pressing matters to attend to right now." Her hand went to her chin as she struck a thoughtful pose. "Everything I do just doesn't seem to-"

She was cut short as she felt a pair of strong hands plant themselves firmly upon her waist, and lift her clear of the ground. Her feet now dangled at least a foot from the floor and her head was even above Gohan's own.

In her fright at the sudden shock her hands quickly grasped his own, fastening onto the top of Gohan's. The pair of them both had to catch their breath at the sudden and very unexpected contact. Gohan couldn't really believe that he had just done what he had done, but knew that he shouldn't really have been surprised at her reaction and where her hands had found themselves ending up.

Once the girl had fully composed herself she released her vice like grip on him, and realised that he was quite easily holding her off the ground, almost effortlessly in fact. She knew he was strong, but she didn't think that she would be quite this light for him.

She was a little annoyed that he was trying to help her after the conversation that had just happened, so she crossed her arms over her chest once again in defiance of his aid. "I told you that I neither require nor want your help, so put me down you savage!" She ordered him. But she didn't want him to put her down at all. She wondered what it would be like to be facing the other way, her own arms fixed around his neck, their bodies a little closer.

She was for a moment glad that she wasn't facing him, because otherwise he would have caught sight of the blush present on her cheeks.

"Just think of me like the box that you tried to stand on. Just an item at your disposal that you can use at your whim, as opposed to someone destroying your pride, dignity and honour by helping you."

Videl seemed to contemplate this for a moment as she came up with her decision. "Hmm, I suppose so, but only on the basis that you are simply a tool that I'm using for this purpose, just some big, dumb, inanimate object that I require for this one task."

"You can use me for whatever you want."

She blushed a deeper red as she spoke. "I might hold you to that Gohan."

"Um, OK." He didn't quite know what she meant, but he could figure it out later.

"And not a word to anyone else by the way."

"It goes without saying."

Slowly she reached a hand out and picked the folder up with her fingers, grasping it tightly, the object finally being well within her grasp.

And then the damn shelf had the nerve to fall off the wall.


	6. Embarrassment

The two teenagers were walking out of the main doors, side by side. They walked in silence, neither really sure what to say. Around them were various other students that were lagging behind after school for one reason or another, be it detention like them or just trying to speak with a teacher.

Videl looked down at her watch. It was already four thirty and she was getting rather hungry. She rarely ate a great deal at lunchtime, trying to keep to a self-imposed diet. That included this day, and because of the extra hour of hard labour that the school had forced upon her, she was even more starving than normal.

The two of them were now leaving the school's grounds, heading in the same general direction. "Where are you going now?" She asked him politely. She still felt very bad about landing him in detention.

"I was going to head home, I'm getting hungry." He replied. "Plus, I'm pretty tired."

"Would you like me to give you a ride, my jet copter's fast."

"That's all right, it isn't far, just a ten minute walk." He studied her face intently, and the girl seemed a bit upset at this. It wasn't obvious, but her face dropped a little. He expected her to retort with something about people not accepting Mr Satan's daughter's help.

"I still feel guilty about what happened, since it was my fault after all. And since you're hungry, do you want to go somewhere?"

"You don't mean a date or something like that do you?"

"No!" She laughed, not at him, because maybe she wouldn't really mind going out with him, but certainly not after they had only just started talking properly. "Just like friends. It can't be easy, with you still being new and all, not after all of the groups have settled over the last couple of years."

A couple of seconds later, Gohan found himself being pushed into the passenger seat of her flying contraption, that he was rather dubious about getting into, until he saw the CC insignia on the side. Maybe he was a little bit more loyal to Bulma and her father than he though.

Gohan watched her skilfully control the aircraft, and they were soon soaring over the nicer areas of the inner city. The copter was indeed quite fast, but Gohan was quite sure it couldn't hold a candle to nimbus, let alone flying for yourself.

"So, where are we going?" He asked, hoping that they wouldn't be going anywhere fancy, where he might inadvertently embarrass himself.

"Just a diner that I go to sometimes when I need to get away from stuff. You know what I mean?"

"Sure, when I'm at home I can just step out of my door and fly off. I don't like it in the city, I can't relax here."

The girl looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You _fly_ off?"

He laughed nervously. "Well...obviously not literally. I'm not Saiyaman after all."

"Yeah, I thought that would be pretty weird." Suspicious indeed. "I thought maybe you meant a jet car or something for a moment, but that would sort of defeat the object. So, did you move into the city just for school?"

"Yeah, I actually live in an apartment that belongs to my godmother, she lets me stay rent free. It's hard being away from my family, but I go home at the weekend." Gohan looked out of the cockpit of the vehicle and noticed that they had begun to descend. He spotted a car park next to a small one-story building that was clearly their destination.

They landed gently and Gohan pushed his door open. The jet copter was probably specially designed for someone of Videl's stature, and the large male had trouble clambering out of the door. By the time he had freed himself, Videl had walked around to see what was taking him so long. She began laughing at him, but he didn't mind. He liked the sound.

"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten all of your vegetables when you were a kid. Maybe you wouldn't have grown up to be so big and strong."

"You don't know the half of it." He mumbled, thinking how he was going to manage not to eat everything inside the diner.

"What?" She asked, hearing his grumblings.

"It doesn't matter." He said, as he finally fell out onto the hard tarmac, feeling as though he might have a huge bruise on his backside.

He got up swiftly before anyone else saw his predicament, while Videl continued to guffaw. She slowly began to wander over to the diner entrance, and he followed her closely behind.

"Just order whatever you want, it isn't like I can't afford it."

"Daddy's credit card?"

She turned around to him, noting a slight hint of animosity in his voice. "I have a certain allowance. The only way my father knows how to take care of me is to throw money my way. Besides, who are you to talk Mr rent-free."

Gohan scratched the back of his neck. "Touché."

As they entered, it appeared to be very quiet, and the waitress waved at Videl happily as she entered, who waved back, a smile on her face. Gohan followed her to a booth in the far corner, and threw a menu to Gohan.

He browsed it quickly, and decided on a simple cheeseburger and fries. Videl didn't even look, and he supposed that she must have a 'usual'.

As the boy laid his menu on the tabletop, the waitress that had waved earlier wandered over. She beamed at Videl. "The usual Miss Satan?"

"Yes please, Beatrice."

The woman turned to Gohan.

"I'll have a cheeseburger and fries please, ma'am." Videl chuckled at his politeness.

"And to drink."

"Um...coke." Gohan wasn't allowed coke at home; it sent both himself and his brother hyperactive. One glass wouldn't hurt though.

The waitress left, and a few moments later returned with their beverages. She walked swiftly back to her colleagues, where the discussion over the pair continued. Videl had only ever been here alone before, and she had certainly never brought a boy. The two teenagers appeared to be getting on rather well, and bets were flying over the relationship between the two. None of them guessed that they had only met that day.

As soon as the food was ready, Beatrice carried the two plates over to the table. Upon setting them down, she asked the question that was on the lips of the half a dozen people that worked in the restaurant.

"So, Videl...is this your boyfriend?"

Luckily the girl wasn't sipping her coke, because it would have flown all over Gohan's face if she had. "No!" She cried, while blushing a deep crimson. Gohan looked just as red.

"That's a shame, the two of you make a cute couple." She spoke honestly.

Videl just buried her face into her hands and reddened even further.

The two teenagers ate in silence from this point, both more than a little embarrassed by the waitress' remarks. It was Videl that piped up first. "I made sure no one thinks you're weird or anything…I made sure they don't know that you're strong. I'm pretty sure most of them thought they were hopped up or drunk when they saw and heard what was going on."

"Oh…thanks." Gohan was truly appreciative; a low profile was certainly something he wanted to keep. Although he knew hanging around with Videl Satan too often might grant him a particularly high one.


	7. Confidence

After they had finished eating, Gohan tried to at least pay his share, but Videl was having none of it.

"No, I'm serious. If it weren't for me acting stupid, neither of us would have wound up in detention. This is my way of saying sorry. Now, do you want me to take you home?"

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but don't you have a home of your own to go to? I'm sure your parents would be getting worried." Gohan looked down at his watch, it was approaching seven o'clock. He realised that they had spent over two hours in that diner, without really noticing how fast time had gone. "It's way past home time."

Videl smiled lightly at his almost childlike term, before realising at that moment she couldn't really think of a better way to say it. "My dad wouldn't care, at least not really. He'd spout off some nonsense about how I'd better off not be spending time with boys. He does it all the time, even though he knows I help the police most nights anyway."

Gohan left the police thing rest for now; he was slightly more interested in something else. "What about your mother? Won't she be concerned?"

The girl looked away from him, all traces of good humour gone from her face.

"Oh…I'm sorry. Did your mother pass away? It's all right if you don't want to talk about it…" Gohan wasn't sure how to act, he'd dealt with death before, a little too often maybe, but it was always framed within extraordinary circumstances.

"Not exactly." Videl replied, rather cryptically. "She just doesn't live at home." She was silent for a few moments more, and Gohan thought that perhaps she didn't want to go too deeply into it, so he let it lie. "So, you want a ride?"

Gohan considered her offer again, and decided that it was probably a good idea to take her up on it; after all, he didn't actually know quite where he was.

"So, where do you live?" She asked him as they took off from the parking lot.

"My building is on Percy Drive."

"Really? That's just around the corner from my house, you live about two minutes away from me. You live in a really good area, your godmother must be pretty rich to just be able to give you an apartment like that."

Gohan smiled, wondering just how much money Bulma had. "She does OK for herself."

A few minutes later, Videl was landing her copter on the grass opposite Gohan's building. Gohan struggled to limb out of the small vehicle, but managed to do so a little more gracefully than he had done earlier. The girl got out too, and capsulated her jet copter. Gohan supposed that she would probably just walk from here.

Considering how nice she had been to him this afternoon, he was feeling a pang of guilt over the way he had treated her over the past two months. "I'm sorry, for ignoring you and pretending I wasn't who you thought I was. I just didn't want anyone to know about me. I don't know why I even thought that I could pull it off."

"Well, like I said, you aren't an easy person to forget. I do have an exceptional memory too, I remember a _lot_ of things." The way she said it seemed fairly ominous, it seemed to Gohan that perhaps she wasn't about to stop trying to find out more about him and his secrets. "Anyway, I'd better be going, it is getting pretty late."

"See you tomorrow then Videl." Gohan turned and waved.

"Gohan – wait!" He turned back to face her. "Since we live so close, why don't we walk to school together?" She oozed confidence, Gohan liked that, she was his polar opposite in that sense. He was the sort of person that had doubts about anything – from boiling a kettle to his own fighting ability – but he could imagine that she had probably never doubted herself or her actions in her life. "Come to think of it, why haven't we seen each other on the way to school before? I walk everyday, I only use my copter when I get a call from the police."

Gohan blushed a little; this was a question that he had already been asked more than once by teachers. "I'm a bit of a late riser to be honest, you're probably already on your way before I'm even up." This was a half-truth, sometimes he was pretty late getting up, but others he woke early and took off as Saiyaman while the streets were quiet.

"If we're going to walk together, you'll need to be up early to meet me." She appeared to have already made the decision for the both of them.

"I could try…I guess." He thought longingly of his bed. No more lie-ins for him it seemed.

"It's settled then." She proclaimed. "Since your place is on the way, we can meet out here at eight fifteen, all right?" It wasn't really a question; it was more of an order.

* * *

**Nothing much happened this chapter, it's all set-up for the rest of the story, and to ease me back into multi-chaps. Cheesy one-shots can only get you so far.**


End file.
